Devices for assisting a surgical operation with microwaves have been developed, and devices for coagulation, cutting, peeling, puncture, and sealing have been developed into a practical level by the inventors of the present invention. For example, a microwave coagulation puncture needle and a microwave sealing device are known. However, it is only a stapler that is a surgical instrument capable of eliminating, when suturing tissues of mesentery or the like, the need for an operation of placing each stitch with a threaded needle to fix the tissues. Therefore, the surgeon who performs suturing requires a long period of operation time or sophisticated skill, and further, foreign matters such as a surgical stitch or a stapler remain in the surgical region.
A document regarding a suturing device using microwaves (see Patent Literature 1) has been reported. However, the structure of this suturing device is completely different from that of the tissue suturing device according to the present invention. Further, the suturing device disclosed in the above-mentioned document has a complex structure, and hence it is difficult to put this suturing device into practical use as a simple device. Besides, in endoscopic surgery, gastrointestinal walls need to be stitched, but it is impossible to perform the operation through an endoscope.
In this context, there has been demanded a development of a surgical instrument that is substitutable for the suturing (adhering) of tissues through stitching of the tissues with a surgical stitch or a stapler.